Taken
by DMBfan
Summary: companion to Missing. One dark and cold night, Mike Baker is kidnapped. Soon the small town his family lives in is paralyzed in a state of fear. Then another boy is kidnapped. The truth will expose a family's dark secret and rip the Baker's apart.
1. Chapter 1

This is kind of like Missing redone only a little darker and with a different victim. It will not be the same at all. Please review. Thank you.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter 1

Mike Baker shivered as he stepped out of the athletic center and into the cold winter night. A light snow had started to fall and the wind was starting to pick up. It was going to be a cold night. Recently Mike and his rather large family had moved from Evanston, Illinois to a much smaller town about thirty miles away. Unfortunately it got a lot colder during the winter. The town of Serenity only had a population of about 400 and the Bakers already knew or had met almost everyone. Hockey practice was over for the night and all the boys from all the teams were heading home to eat dinner and finish up their homework. Christmas vacation had ended a week earlier and the teachers were already piling on the homework. Mike knew that most of his older siblings, which was everyone but Kyle and Nigel, were having a hard time. His brother Jake was really having a tough time and was in danger of failing. He was going to intensive one on one tutoring everyday after school. Mike felt sorry for his big brother. Jake had some learning problems, which made school ten times harder for him. At least he tried.

Mike's two new best friends, Nick and Jordan, came bursting out of the center among a mass wave of dozens of other boys. Pretty much every boy in town. Mike waved to his friends as they walked over.

"What took you so long?" asked Mike, his breath billowing out in front of him.

"Nothing. It's just you always have to rush outside," snapped Nick, playfully shoving Mike.

"Yeah, what's the deal with that Mike?" asked Jordan, zipping up his jacket.

"I don't know. I'm just fast I guess," replied Mike. The three friends had to move to the side as a convoy of mini-vans and SUVs started to pull up and the boys from every team made their way to their own respective vehicles. Mike scanned the large parade of cars for the family van. Some boys who sat at Mike's lunch table waved to him. Mike waved back. Jordan's older brother, Bobby, pulled up in his Camaro. He rolled down the window, cursing under his breath as his face was hit by a blast of cold air.

"Let's go, Jordan. Mom will be pissed if we're late," ordered Bobby. Jordan slung his bag over his shoulder and headed towards his brother's car.

"See you guys at school," shouted Jordan over his shoulder. Mike and Nick waved goodbye.

"Is your Dad coming?" asked Mike, turning to his remaining friend. Nick laughed.

"My Dad? No. I won't see him until midnight. He's the chief of police, remember?" asked Nick.

"Oh yeah. That's right. He works late a lot," remembered Mike.

"Every night. Well, almost every night," replied Nick. "So how's your dads team doing?"

"Great. Dad totally changed the way they practiced. They're really improving from when he first started in October," answered Mike. Nick's mom pulled up in her van at that moment. Nick's brothers were with her, goofing off and getting snapped at by Nick's mom, Sidney. The oldest sons, Matt and Cory, were twins. They were thirteen. Mike knew they both had a crush on Sarah. Nick's brother Oliver was twelve and was the quiet, smart in the family. He was good friends with Mark. Nick was the youngest at eleven. Nick said goodbye to Mike and climbed into the back of the van. Sidney rolled down the passenger window.

"Mike, you want a ride home?" asked Sidney. Mike looked at his watch. 7:00. His dad was running late.

"I'll call him and see if he's coming if you don't mind waiting," replied Mike.

"I don't mind," assured Sidney.

"I do," added Matt, jokingly. Sidney elbowed him playfully. Mike took out his cell phone and pressed #1 on speed dial. Tom Baker picked up after one ring.

"Hey, Mike. Sorry. I'm going to be a little late," apologized Tom.

"That's OK. Nick's mom offered to give me a ride," replied Mike.

"That'd be great. Tell her thank you and I'll see you at home," said Tom.

"Ok. Bye Dad," said Mike, hanging up.

"Hop in if you're going," exclaimed Nick, opening the back door. Mike picked up his bag and climbed into the van. As the van pulled away, no one noticed the parked car hidden in the shadows nearby. The driver had been sitting there for two hours. The plan had a slight setback. That was OK. He was prepared for this. He had been planning this for two months. He took a long puff from his cigarette and blew the smoke out slowly. He turned the car and started to follow the van that Mike had driven off in.

………….

"I just don't get it, Mom. I keep telling you that." Jake Baker was getting more and more frustrated. Math had never been his strong suit and his freshman math class was a real monster. He knew that he didn't stand a chance. But what could he do. Kate Baker put a hand on her son's shoulder.

"Don't give up so easily, honey. You don't give yourself enough credit," said Kate. Jake sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"I need a break," he groaned. Kate nodded.

"We'll pick this back up after dinner," explained Kate. A moan of pain came from upstairs. Sarah was getting sick again. She had been bedridden with the flu for the past week.

"Duty calls," sighed Kate. Jake headed into the TV room as Kate went upstairs to deal with her daughter. Sarah's fever had yet to break and her stomach was constantly bothering her. She slept most of the day and had to be forced to eat. Walking to the bathroom was a real chore for her. Kate found Sarah with her head in the toilet, the light dinner she had eaten coming up her throat and out her mouth. Sarah gagged as she finished up. Kate rubbed her back and helped her rinse her mouth at the sink.

"Thanks, Mom," whispered Sarah, clutching her stomach. Lorraine and Charlie came rushing into the bathroom, anxious to help their ill family member. The Bakers took care of each other when someone got sick. Charlie and Lorraine helped Sarah back to her room as Kate went back downstairs to start dinner. Mike was coming into the house as she stepped off the last step.

"Hey, sweetie. Where's Daddy?" asked Kate.

"Running late. Mrs. Addison gave me a ride," answered Mike, taking his jacket off. He hung his jacket up in the closet next to the door and headed upstairs to change out of his hockey clothes. Mike's room was connected to Jake's and had a nice view of a park across the street. The Bakers lived in one of Serenity's nicest neighborhoods. Isolated from the downtown area and main residential sector. Nick lived a few houses down. The door connecting Mike's room to Jake was open. It usually was. Even though Jake was four years older then Mike, the two were still extremely close. Mike looked up to Jake more then anyone else in the family. Jake's room was an absolute mess and some dirty clothes had found their way to Mike's room. Mike threw them back into the pig sty next door. Things started to clutter in a very short time after cleaning in Jake's room.

"Mike, don't forget to walk Gunnar. It's your night," shouted Kate from downstairs.

"Ok, Mom," replied Mike. He pulled on some new clean clothes and headed downstairs. Gunnar was waiting for him.

"Hey, boy," said Mike, pausing to pet the beloved family dog. Mike had a hard time putting his jacket on and putting Gunnar's leash on since the dog was so excited. Mike already had a path chose. Down his street to Nick's house, turn right at Vining, walk down to Maple, turn right, walk down Maple until he got to Frost, make a right on Frost, and his street was next. A good thirty minutes if Mike paced himself. The walk started off as usual. Gunnar peed on every lawn and left a nice big present on Ms. Crandle's yard. She wouldn't notice, she never came outside. All the lights were on at Nick's house and Mike could hear laughter inside. He turned right on Vining as planned. Most of the houses lights were on. Those that had families living in them The old couples all went to Florida for the winter. Maple seemed darker then usual. Probably because mostly older folks lived on Maple. Mike was almost to Frost when the shot went off. Gunnar yelped as a bullet hit his hind leg. Mike had no time to react before he was being picked up and thrown into the trunk of a car. He wet himself in fear as he was bound and gagged. His attacker worked fast. Mike was soon unable to move. His lips were quivering in pain since they were wrapped around the knot on the rope that had been put in his mouth. Mike wet himself again as the trunk door slammed shut and he was plunged into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Super sorry about the delay. Please keep in mind this is not a sequel to Missing. This is just another kidnapping story I thought of. No way related to Missing. Please review. Please please review. Thanks.

Chapter 2

Jake sighed as he continued to flip through the channels. There was nothing on in this godforsaken town. Ever. It was only thirty miles away from Chicago. Why didn't it get the same reception? Kate poked her head into the TV room.

"Jake, after dinner I want to talk to you," said Kate. Jake turned to look at his mother.

"About what?" asked Jake, turning off the TV.

"The attack," replied Kate. Jake cringed as he thought back to the first week of school. It was Friday. Jake had stayed behind to help a friend set up for some freshman mixer. Jake had decided to walk home since his high school wasn't that far from his house. A few blocks away a rival skater who was competing with Jake for a sponsorship jumped out of the bushes and stabbed him in the stomach. Luckily a cop had just been turning around a corner and had seen the whole thing. The attacker fled but Jake had gotten medical attention right away. The wound had been deep and Jake needed extensive surgery to clean out his stomach and close up the wound. He also lost his pancreas and one of his kidneys. It took three operations to fix him up. Jake lost the sponsorship and a possible successful future in skating and Tom decided that the town was too unsafe for his family and looked for work elsewhere. Jake blamed himself for the family having to move to this awful town.

"Why do we need to talk about that?" asked Jake, groaning.

"It's for my book. That was a stressful time for us. Plus it will be sweet to explain how Mike was always there to take care of you. More then I was," explained Kate. Jake nodded. Mike had been really good to him. Feeding him when he was too weak to move. Washing him so he could at least be clean. Jake owed Mike big time.

"Yeah sure. We can talk after dinner," said Jake.

"Good. Now go find your brother. He's running late. Gunnar might be giving him a hard time," ordered Kate. Jake nodded and went to go put on his jacket. This wasn't the first time Jake had to rescue Mike from Gunnar. If Gunnar decided to chase something he thought looked interesting he could easily overpower Mike.

Jake walked Mike's route, calling out his name. Gunnar may have pulled him down another street. Jake saw Nick Addison taking out the trash.

"Hey, Nick, have you seen Mike recently?" asked Jake, walking up to Nick.

"He walked past the house like twenty minutes ago with your dog. He can't be far," replied Nick. "He was heading that way." Nick pointed down the street towards Vining. Jake thanked Nick and continued his search for his brother. He started to get nervous when Mike continued not to answer him. How far could he have gone? Jake quickly walked down Vining and turned onto Maple. He could see an animal lying on the side of the road towards the end of street. As he got closer, Jake instantly recognized Gunnar's leash.

"Oh my God," exclaimed Jake. Gunnar was lying on the ground, whimpering and bleeding from the leg. Mike was nowhere to be found. Jake had seen plenty of crime shows to know Gunnar had been shot. And it was possible that Mike had been kidnapped. Jake usually wasn't paranoid but a situation like this called for paranoia. Jake carefully picked up Gunnar and carried him back to the house. Kate shrieked in surprise when she saw Jake holding the injured dog. Jake explained what he had found and Kate rushed over to the phone to call 911. Jake left Gunnar in the care of Charlie and Lorraine without saying anything else, went back outside to keep looking for his brother.

…………

Chief of Police David Addison groaned as he took a sip of cold, stale coffee.

"Ok, who forgot to refresh the coffee?" demanded David, shouting down the halls of the Serenity Police Station.

"It was probably Otis," replied David's personal assistant and station mother, Denise. She stepped out of her office and pointed toward Deputy Otis Martin's door.

"Otis has been on patrol since six. I think it was Daisy. It usually is her," explained David, returning to his office. David sat down at his desk and cast a sour glance at all the unfinished reports on his desk. There had been some serious cases of vandalism recently. Some of the citizens were in an uproar about it. David sighed as his phone rang. Probably Otis reporting another act of vandalism.

"Addison here," said David answering.

"So can I expect not to see you at dinner?" asked the caller. David let out a small chuckle. Sydney. His rock and support system. He'd be lost without her.

"Hi, honey. I don't know. I have some wild and destructive vandals on the loose," explained David.

"Well we're having spaghetti and steak strips tonight and I know how much you love that. I have four voraciously hungry boys to feed and their won't be anything left at the end," replied Sydney. David sighed. Sydney sometimes got tired of David pulling all nighters and she got really tried of having to manage four boys all by herself.

"I'll try to get there. I promise," assured David.

"Ok. That's all I ask," said Sydney. David smiled.

"So anything going on?" asked David.

"Oliver won the science fair today. His three months of hard work paid off," answered Sydney.

"Good for him. I'll have to take him out to celebrate this week," said David.

"I'll tell him. You'll have to make good on your word," warned Sydney.

"I know." Denise poked her head into her boss's office.

"Upstairs bathroom is flooding again," explained Denise. David groaned. If it wasn't one thing it was another.

"Have Daisy take care of it. Payback for not making a fresh pot of coffee," ordered David. Denise snickered and walked off. Sydney chuckled on the other end of the line.

"Well, in the future I'll make sure there's a fresh pot of coffee every morning," mumbled Sydney. David looked up as one of his best officers, Mick Dunway, poked his head into David's office.

"Um, Chief, we just got a call about a missing persons' report," explained Mick. David raised an eyebrow.

"Who's missing?" asked David.

"Um, kids name is Mike Baker. His mother called and said he was last seen leaving to walk his dog. The dog was found lying on the side of the road with an injured leg," answered Mick. David tapped his fingers on his desk. He felt a sick feeling starting to build up in the pit of his stomach. This couldn't be good.

"I'll have to call you back, honey," said David to Sydney.

"Is everything alright?" asked Sydney, worry clearly evident in her voice.

"Fine. I just need to check something out," explained David.

"OK. Hope to see you tonight," pleaded Sydney.

"I'll try my best. I have to go," replied David. "Bye." He hung up.

"OK. Let's go. Let's hope this is just some weird misunderstanding," hoped David. As he and Mick headed towards their respective cars, David couldn't help but keep repeating one word over and over again in his head. Kidnapping.


End file.
